Income tax officers on warpath, to stop survey from tommorow

Published: Tuesday, October 9, 2007, 18:41 [IST]

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Mumbai, Oct 9 (UNI) Over 45,000 promotee officers and employees of Income Tax department across the country will stop carrying out the survey work from tomorrow, to protest against the non-implementation of their demands by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

As a prelude to this proposed action, office bearers, executive committee members and other activists of the Joint Council of Action (JCA), Mumbai today staged a mass squatting before the chamber of the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (CCA) and later staged a massive demonstration before the Aaykar Bhavan at Churchgate here.

''Tomorrow onwards, we will launch a non-cooperation movement. No promotee officer or employee will participate in the survey operations. And from November 1, we will not submit any statistical report to protest against the inaction of CBDT regarding our demands, even after readying settlement on August 6,'' ITGOA Mumbai Unit General Secretary Rajesh Menon told UNI today.

According to Mr Menon, while on one hand, CBDT has no time to implement the agreements reached with the JCA and on the other hand, the Board's top notch are busy preparing a proposal for the amendment of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) recruitment rules so as to ensure that no promotee officer reaches beyond the level of Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax (ACIT).

''The clever plan devised by them for this purpose is that the promotion of the Income Tax Officer to ACIT is to be restricted to the number of intake of direct recruit ACITs,'' Mr Menon alleged.

The chain effect of this plan is that not only the ITOs are being denied their due promotion but also the consequential promotional avenues in all the grade C and D cadres have also been automatically stalled due to stagnation at ITO level,'' he added.